Uploads from Thomas Birke, tagged blue, with geodata

Connought Road Hong Kong

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Birke) — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 03:57:09 -0800

Today it was so cloudy, that you could not see the IFC II and on top of that it was even too windy for the large format camera (see the other side on my facebook page: www.facebook.com/ThomasBirkeUrbanPhotography
So I could just take some shots that I have already taken in 2010 ( www.flickr.com/photos/move_lachine/4842952029 ).

What I find a bit disturbing is that the colour always comes out different depending on the medium. My aspiration is to shift colours in a way that they resemble a representation of my perception at the time of the shot, but you can see that the digital photo of today yielded a totally different result than the analog on Ektar 100 in 2010. Got to work on my perception I guess.

This is a stitch of two vertically shifted exposures.
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View From Braemar Hill

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Birke) — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 06:30:24 -0800

Thomas Birke posted a photo:

So today actually was the first time I took the camera outdoors and climbed up Braemar Hill. (can see it on my facebook page: www.facebook.com/ThomasBirkeUrbanPhotography )
On Braemar Hill there are 2 really good viewpoints - one is a couple of rocks down from the trigonometric station and the other one, which I chose today, is a kilometer away from the actual Braemar Hill top along the Trail (I think it is the Wilson Trail). Both have their advantages, and I can not decide which one is best - the first has part of the Happy Valley Flyover in view, which is a great addition to the futuristic feeling of the cityscape - the second, which I choose today, has these amazing round appartment blocks in the foreground ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lai_Tak_Tsuen ) and the view of Central Plaza is not blocked...
Anyway, the whole week already there is so much pollution in the air and it is quite cloudy, so the light pollution of central is so strong that it is hard to balance out, plus there is not much sharpness because all the particles in the air blur the details...I hope that it will get better with next week!
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View on Causeway Bay 2

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Birke) — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 02:42:14 -0800

Thomas Birke posted a photo:

So today I managed both cameras at the same time, and just want to upload this to show the importance of the right timing. This was shot at exactly 15 minutes after the calculated sunset, at that time, both sky and building walls had exactly the same exposure value (this may differ based on the time of year and the direction you are shooting in, and is also dependant by the level of light the city is emitting). This is the real twilight spot and it only lasts about 2 minutes, you don't need different exposures, you just have to measure and wait. Yesterdays image was shot later, and I tried to recreate the effect with exposure blending, but I do not think you can really recreate that special glow. This is the glow I am chasing, so that's also the reason why it does not make much sense to take more than one spot or location per night, as the light is only right for about 2 minutes.

(In case you wonder about the weird format - it is a stitch of two verticals, I just could not decide what part to omit, so I took both, top and bottom.)
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Seoul #73 -drumscan

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Birke) — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 09:58:31 -0700

Thomas Birke posted a photo:

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Seoul #46 -prescan

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Birke) — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 08:24:23 -0700

Thomas Birke posted a photo:

It's not that the moon is so big on 300mm, it's just that the white circle of blown out highlights just becomes larger when you tweak the contrast...

Anyway - I like the layers here.
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Seoul #45 -prescan

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Birke) — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 06:00:43 -0700

Thomas Birke posted a photo:

This is Oksu Station - looking very futuristic and cool in the night, but like an 80ies sin in the day from close up.

It is so amazing how they totally packed the banks of the hangang with roads and railway tracks. Other cities with rivers have their best real estate on the banks and famous skylines. In Seoul it is just 3 to 5 layers of concrete elevated roads :)
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Seoul #15-#16 -pano -prescan

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Birke) — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 03:39:04 -0700

Thomas Birke posted a photo:

This is a quick stitch with photomerge of two shots. It is hard to balance the exposure since the light is changing so fast in the morning. I have two more shots to the left side, but the magic glow did vanish too soon, so that they do not fit together from the exposure point of view - even though the exposures can be balanced, the different light reflection of sky and buildings make it unreal.

As you may notice, the shots are a bit blurred - I am so pissed by that fact. This has been shot from a wooden visitor platform, and unfortunately I was not alone, even at 4.45am! There were lots of old people, that I think can not sleep and do hiking before sunrise, and some gymnastic excercises on the platform, which caused vibration to the camera.

I think I have to go there again and have an assistant seal of the access to the plattform :)
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Seoul #05 -prescan

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Birke) — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 14:34:46 -0700

Thomas Birke posted a photo:

This was shot from a parkdeck along a Road around the namsan, between the Hyatt and the Hilton.
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tokyo #04 prescan

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Birke) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 04:57:17 -0700

Thomas Birke posted a photo:

Tokyo 2008, shinkansen track
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Paris #34 prescan

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Birke) — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 03:27:56 -0700

Thomas Birke posted a photo:

I have been back to La Défense to reshoot some good frames that I messed up last time. Came back on a weekday, so I had office lights, and I started earlyer, so I still had real blue hour flavour. Now it is perfect I think.

It is such a difference riding the metro on an office day during rush hour. Paris RER was more crowded than Tokyo Subway, because of a strike of the unions, but everyone was totally controlled and quiet! True urban professionals - the office people of La Défense :)

(The old one, which was way too dark and hard to recover in PS: www.flickr.com/photos/move_lachine/4423147698/

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Paris #28 prescan

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Birke) — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 05:22:16 -0700

Thomas Birke posted a photo:

View from the Temple de Sybille in Parc des Buttes Chaumont towards Montmartre and Sacre Coeur.

By the way, if you are in the romance business - take your partner to the temple de sybille and watch the sunset - it is awsome :)
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Paris #27 prescan

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Birke) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 06:55:38 -0700

Thomas Birke posted a photo:

View from the Temple de Sybille in Parc des Buttes Chaumont down the Avenue de Laumière. To some people it is a sting, but I love the fusion of old appartment buildings and modern appartment towers.

This one is basically the same as #26, except that it is shot in landscape format - which is just a small difference in 8x10, but anyhow, I still can not decide. I like the traffic in the lower part better in #26.

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Paris #26 prescan

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Birke) — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 08:52:08 -0700

Thomas Birke posted a photo:

Berlin #28 prescan

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Birke) — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 06:42:33 -0700

Thomas Birke posted a photo:

Marie-Elisabeth Lüders Haus in Berlin across the River Spree.
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Paris #13 prescan

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Birke) — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 05:46:20 -0700

Thomas Birke posted a photo:

check out my blog. thomasbirke.com

I have to admit I saw that one before (www.seenby.com/martin-preissner/way-of-lights) - But it nagged me that the building on the left has been cut off, so I had to do it by myself ;)

I really love that spot! Unfortunately it was still weekend, so not much light in the office towers...maybe I will do it again on a weekday.

From the la Défense Architecture Guide (www.ladefense.fr/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/guidearchiuk.pdf):
Pacific Tower (the rightmost building)
The intention of the Pacific tower is to symbolise a link between Europe and the
Empire of the Rising Sun, stated through four main themes. "The urban door"
presents itself in the form of an enormous portal frame, a pedestrian passage
towards the footbridge spanning the RN 314, and was realised with the aid of
the engineer Peter Rice. "The urban roof" offers a landscaped background
conducive to relaxation and serenity. The curtain wall of the façade, "a union
of Japanese and European cultures" and a "union of tradition and the future",
evokes the paper and wood sliding doors typical of Japanese architecture, just
as the footbridge is reminiscent of the taikobash, a humpback bridge. Above
and beyond the technical innovations used for its construction (high resistance
concrete, new construction methods etc) the Pacific tower displays a level of
sophistication rarely equalled.

Société Générale Towers (in the middle)
This building comprising twin 158 metres high towers which are bevelled at the top and 40 metres apart, demonstrates great originality.
The two inclined planes make the tower easy to identify from a distance and are transformed each night into two immense projectors with two beams of light that shoot up from the top of the towers, making the building all the more visible
from a distance. The lift landings are of white Chassagne stone in one of the towers and red Alicante marble in the other, the materials from which the towers take their respective names.
The interior layout has been designed in the most flexible way possible: even the positioning of the corridors can be adjusted!

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Paris #06 prescan

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Birke) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:59:58 -0800

Thomas Birke posted a photo:

stupid old me...shooting in an office district on a weekend. Of course no one works on the weekend, so almost all the lights are off.

This was shot from the Voie de l'Horlogerie, looking down Avenue Jean Moulin and showing the following towers from left to right:
Tour Franklin, Areva T&D, Tour EDF, Eurosites Défense Tour Atlantique, Tour Ariane, Marsh S.A..

and with a shift that high and without a center filter, the vignetting of the SSXL 150mm is hard to control in Photoshop.
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Seoul #78 -drumscan

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Birke) — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 06:16:08 -0700

Thomas Birke posted a photo:

crop of a 150mm frame.
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Seoul #74 -drumscan

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Birke) — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 11:28:54 -0700

Thomas Birke posted a photo:

Hangang
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Seoul #28 -prescan

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Birke) — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 04:09:00 -0700

Thomas Birke posted a photo:

My last shot from Inwangsan. I am still angry when I see the image! The light was perfect, the air as well and the next shot would have been to the right, with Myeng-Dong and the Ingwansan - which is one of the most iconic views in Seoul. I still feel it would have been one of my few masterpieces.

BUT - unfortunately there are several military posts on every mountain in seoul, and they made it absolutely clear that I am not allowed to shoot and had to pack instantly. I tried to discuss and let them explain why, but they hardly spoke any english.

Can anyone of the Seoul flickr members tell me why it is forbidden to take panoramas from Inwangsan? I see no reason!

Anyway, I uploaded this one a little bigger, because there are so many iconic buildings to bee seen. For example the 1988 Olympic Stadium, which looks awesome in the blue hour. Or the Jongno Tower or the Coex Tower.

Happy exploring :)
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Seoul #11 -prescan

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Birke) — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 14:05:56 -0700

Thomas Birke posted a photo:

Shot from the rooftop parking deck on seoul station.
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